Derek Webb has come out with a new album this month: Stockholm Syndrome. There is a psychological development that sometimes happens when some one who has been abducted begins to develop affections for their abductor.
The sanctification process is about becoming more like Jesus, which means we begin to reflect, more and more, his ethical and functional glory. (Reflecting his form will come at the resurrection Phil. 3:20-21) . Ethical glory is relational, and functional glory would be his missional impulse.
So what does Stockholm Syndrome look like for a disciple. I think John hits on this when he says "Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity."
Developing affections for your abductor sound ridiculous, impossible. But it happens, and it is a great metaphor for the subtle process that can happen if we begin to let our love become re-directed and re-formed by our own selfish wants. The systems and values of the world are deceiving, and sometimes we do not know how far we have fallen in love with them. Secret romance would be a good term. We need prophets to help jolt us into reality, call us away from our false lover and point us back to our primary relationship, where true and satisfying love can be enjoyed.
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